The Results

The End of December

Sam was surprised when Stevie asked him to check out a house with him that he was considering moving into, but he certainly jumped at the chance to do so and Mercedes seemed to be doing okay that day, so she told him to enjoy himself as she and Stacie went to the community center.

"It's better than an apartment, but this belonged to Schuester," Stevie said, with his arms folded, looking at the house.

Sam nodded his head, "Yeah, I remember this place… But, on the upside - look at how much yard room you have. You could get your dogs back…" Stevie frowned. Sam shut up for a moment, then offered, "You know you're in love when you give up dogs you raised since they were puppies for a girl."

"That's hardly how it happened. They're already happy with y'all. You've taken care of them for years and Cheri is allergic to dogs. Sometimes, she's all stopped up just from Mercedes coming through the shop with hers. Even if we put them out here and gave them doghouses, I think it would still be too hard on her, especially right now."

"What's right now? You mean the stress of inheriting Schuester property or the nursing you back to full health?"

"She's trying to have another baby," Stevie said.

Sam furrowed his eyebrows. "She's trying? You mean that y'all are trying… and now I gotta ask why?"

"Being pregnant was really good for her, except for the whole break up thing. So much has happened to her in the past few months, all I want is to give her whatever she wants and she wants another baby. Hence, the reason that I am even here right now, checking this place out to see if we can move in it by January instead of the apartment."

"You want another baby?"
Stevie shrugged his shoulders, "I want a few more. I didn't plan on having them back to back, but I don't mind either. And, let's not get ahead of ourselves - people try all the time and don't succeed."

"Yeah, but you've done it before without even trying, so I imagine that succeeding should be a piece of cake, if you're trying."

"We haven't been careful, at all and it hasn't happened yet. You never know."

Stevie and Sam went into the house to look around. "So, what are you waiting on? You're the one that wanted the kids and wife and whole deal. You got a wife and I just presumed you'd immediately get to the other."

"It took me this long and a surprise wedding to even get her to marry me. I'm thinking that children are in the distant future. She's terrified of being a mother, no matter how much she wants children."

"I'm terrified of being a father, but I already am here…"

"When are you planning on making an honest woman out of Cheri? When she's 18?"

Stevie winced, "I got enough of that at Christmas from four uppity grandparents, so I think I'm good on that kind of talk for a while." He peeked into a room, "Look at this library." Sam joined him and they saw bookcases and shelves, mostly filled with books, with some art statues in the room and a couple of reading nooks. "This is cool, right?"

"Hella cool. Though, I'd worry about what might be in these books."

"We can burn whatever doesn't vibe with us… in the awesome fireplace that I passed by on the way here."

"You love it, don't you?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna bring the others to check it out…"

.

The Beginning of the Year

Mercedes could hear the flashing of the camera and wondered what direction it was coming from as she attempted to walk all of the dogs, "Sam?" She called.

"Yeah, I'm right here," she heard him say, from the same direction of the camera.

"Are you taking photos?"

"Yeah. I wanted to post a few of you and the dogs. Tina hasn't really been answering her phone, but I noticed that she's still liking posts, so Quinn and I have been sure to post some everyday of our family lives and stuff."

"That's really sweet, but can you help me with these dogs?"

"Yes, I was just about to do that, and get a couple of selfies..."

.

The Start of February

Sam and Stevie were at a food court table in the mall, Stevie was typing on his laptop, while Sam was scrolling through his phone. "Do you hate when people do this or do you hate when people claim to hate when people do this, even though literally everyone does this?" Sam asked.

Stevie glanced up over his glasses, "What are we talking about?"

"Sitting in front of each other engaged in our little technology," Sam said.

"Naw. I'm fine with it. I hardly ever hear people complaining. My brain easily shuts out complaining," Stevie told him.

"What are you doing?"

"Responding to some emails about shows. Since Missy is no longer handling us, I haven't had anybody as a go between for these things and people have wanted to learn more since the shooting. But, I have to bring Jake along with me, because even with my history with Max, the Jake element is one of the things that people want to see. The bromance angle."

"Is there bromance there?" Sam asked.

"No, but Missy had always wanted to do bromance stuff with you and Matt and he was never on for it, so whenever she picked us up as clients, she convinced us that this doesn't work without both of us."

"But, it kinda does now, right? Since you're the only one who got shot by Max."

"Well, first of all - how dare you? Didn't you learn anything from that girl going off on you at the roundtable? Besides, I can't leave him out. That could make problems in my bedroom, and that's the one place that I never have problems. Secondly, once we realized that I was gonna live, we've been going all out with the bromance angle, because Missy was dead, we didn't really know what to do and we literally live together and he watches my son for a living. It has been super easy to milk it for whatever it's worth. So, as I was saying, I have to bring Jake along with me and of course, he has a few more months before graduation; so, he's been doing all kinds of college prep, applications and stuff like that, in addition to classes."

"They can like phone in for him whenever he can't make appearances. If what you're saying is true, he might only have to miss out until the school year ends," Sam said.

"Teachers have been all kinds of cool with working with him when he needs to miss. I think they feel like they're part of his story when they do that or something." Sam shrugged his shoulders and put his phone away to collect their trash.

"Mercedes finally was able to get an appointment with the OBGYN, for next week."

"Next week? Why didn't y'all just tell the office who she was? Cheri's constantly throwing out the fact that this is my baby and if that doesn't work, she'll name drop you in a heartbeat."

"Well, after the shooting, the funeral, the holidays, and a New Year with Tina M.I.A… Babydoll didn't want too much attention. She just wanted to be able to see a doctor, get in and out of the place with little fuss and little discomfort. I decided to do whatever she wants." Stevie nodded in understanding. "It has been so hard."

"Yeah, I got it, Sammy. Well, if y'all need anything, you know that me, Stace, and Cheri are here for y'all."

"You're about to have a home with four adults and three babies."

"I mean… Cowboy's getting older. He's gonna probably be walking and talking soon."

"Cowboy is how old now?" Sam asked.

"He's 10 months and some change? Can you believe that? He's about to be one… at the end of March."

"And Cheri's finally about to be 18!" Sam cheered.

Stevie frowned, "The age of consent in this state is 16."

"Yeah, but… I mean… 18 will feel better, yeah?"

"I will feel the same," Stevie said, feeling like Sam was about to do the thing that he and Dwight had been doing most of the winter and trying to put pressure on him to get married.

"Alright, well… What are you and Stace doing for your birthday?"

"Nothing," Stevie said. "She's gonna go out with Joe, I think. I'm just gonna be at home with Cheri and Cowboy. Are y'all doing anything?"

"Yeah, probably going to have a little POM St. Paddy's party, if you want to stop by."

"No. I'm so not interested in your friends' get-togethers, but thanks."

"Ok, well… I know that you and Cheri like a lot of alone time. If y'all ever want to leave Cowboy with his aunt and uncle, we could use that practice."

Stevie smiled tightly, "I need it, too. Remember how I've only lived with own son for like three months?"

"You seem irritated."

"I am."

"Did something happen?'" Sam wondered.

Stevie thought for a moment, then he said, "So… I was well aware of what was happening, even before Cheri told me that she wanted me to give her a baby. She was like giving me multiple daily blowjobs, then right before I finished, catching it in the snatch, which - I love both of those things. I'm not gonna complain about that. In fact, I encourage it. But, I keep thinking, what the hell is wrong with me? I can barely take care of the one child that I have, and now I have two more coming! Not to mention, like you said a few moments ago, I am about to be living in a home with four adults and three babies, BUT - I am responsible for the babies and Cheri. And everybody wants me to just slap a ring on her hand and make sure that I trap her with me, like she needs to be Mrs. Evans to the least of the Evanses!" He closed his laptop, covered his face with his hands, rubbed his eyes and uncovered his face to see Sam looking worried. "For crying out loud, I'm fine. This is normal, isn't it? Stressing about newcoming kids?"

"Yeah, of course."

Stevie observed, "You don't seem nervous, though."

"Yeah, I'm not. I've been wanting kids since before Mercedes and I even got together. I'm too excited to feel anything else." Sam crossed his hands over one another, "But, Stevie… I know how it feels to think that you aren't good enough to be with someone. You can't let that affect your decisions. If you and Cheri don't want to get married, that's your choice. But, if the only thing keeping you from taking that step is insecurity and anxiety, then you're not doing yourself any favors."

"If I married Cheri, no matter what happens, she'd never be able to get rid of me. Right now, she still has some leeway. We're not like y'all. We don't make a decision and just stick to it. I know that I want to be with Cheri until the day that I die. But, I don't know that that's what Cheri wants and I'm not going to put the pressure on her to decide that and then be like Mom and hate and resent her family because of an unstable mistake in a chaotic time."

.

The Middle of March

Mercedes was excited and nervous to tell Quinn and Tina about her news. She arranged to meet with them while Sam was meeting with his family.

The previous day, Marley had asked Mercedes if she had a fair amount of menstruation products, because she was getting ready to make a pharmacy run to pick up medications and toiletries, and Mercedes wasn't even sure what day it was, but she was sure that she had not yet begun hers.

"I presumed that you would have already had it and ended it, according to my calendar. I'm just going to restock you, if necessary?" Marley went to check herself and said, "It looks like it's about the same as last month. Do you need me to try to make an appointment with a doctor?"

"No. The premiere was stressful. The holidays were stressful, so I know that it's probably just stress related. This happens to me sometimes."

"I read about that in the binder. Well, at the very least, I will pick up a pregnancy test for you at the pharmacy. You would need to know very quickly in order to make the right choices about how to handle it."

"The right choices?" Mercedes repeated.

"With your doctors about your meds and things of that nature," Marley said, making a note in her phone to pick up a pregnancy test. "In the meantime, I will hold off on getting period products since you haven't had it yet anyway." Mercedes huffed in confusion. She certainly didn't feel pregnant. (Not that she knew what that felt like, but she didn't feel much different).

SO, after she took the test, with Marley's help, she had Sam to come home to check on the results. She didn't want anyone else to see or know until Sam did - either way. Then, immediately after he found out and excitedly attempted to make a huge announcement, she calmed him down and convinced him to meet with his family and tell them in person at the same time that she was going to tell Tina and Quinn.

She almost expected for Tina to say that she wouldn't be able to make it to the meeting, but thankfully, since she was walking fine on her own again, Tina was glad to come.

Tina came to the table ranting about a pregnancy and Mercedes wasn't even thinking about Cheri and Stevie, even though Cheri had been pregnant for almost 3 months now and had known about 3 weeks into it.

They agreed to be there for her and she even asked them to come along whenever she went for her first doctor's visit.

.

Sam and Mercedes met with Tina and Quinn outside of the doctor's office and they all went in together, Quinn with a list of things she wanted Sam to discuss with the doctor and Tina with her camera ready to capture all of the moments that they would need to document the coming of the new little Mercy. Mercedes had on her sunglasses. She had taken to wearing them every since Missy had made some gross comment about her eyes distracting Sam's publicity photos, to where Mercedes became self conscious, even though she had no idea what her eyes were doing to cause any "distraction." However, because her insecurity had been stirred, Tina began selecting sunglasses for her, letting her know that it wasn't because she needed them but because she said she wanted them now.

Sam was doing some recording of his own and Mercedes was simply nervously smiling and giggling at the different conversations between her friends. She heard Tina ask, "So, what do you want? A girl? A boy? Both? 2 Girls? 2 Boys?"

Sam replied, "I'm thinking start out with a nice, easy boy. Come in next with a girl, that way she's got a big brother to look after her. THEN, THEN it's twin time. A girl and a boy at once. Then, a set of triplets of a boy and two girls. And then have a baby boy."

Quinn sighed and muttered, "Oh dear Lord."

Tina said, "Dude, that's like seven kids."

"It's eight. No solos. Everybody gets a best friend. Sam and Mercy plus 8." Tina and Sam laughed.

Mercedes said softly, "I was thinking he was going to go for double digits, so I'm relieved that 8 is his starting maximum point. Negotiate him down, Quinn."

Quinn looked directly at Sam and opened her mouth, but he said, "You know… one at a time. We'll discuss it later. Like, right after you recover from labor."

"Could I just get through the appointment first, Sam?" Mercedes asked, laughing.

Quinn rubbed her thighs and assured her, "We're here for you. This is exciting. The first inner circle baby since Beth." Mercedes could tell from her voice, the tone that she had been having the entire time, that she wasn't excited, at all. If anything, she sounded concerned and Mercedes didn't blame her. Hell, she was concerned, herself.

Tina offered, "And after the surgeries, we don't have a clue whether or not I'll be making any in this body."

Quinn gasped, "Really?"

"Mike's pretending it doesn't bum him out, but they had to do some major work in there to stop the internal bleeding and my uterine wall may have some permanent damages," Tina confessed. "So, I'm already looking into what I would have to do in order to adopt, just in case."

Mercedes added, "That's what I was sure I would have to do, too. Especially with all of the antipsychotics that I have had to take over the years."

"And now look at us!" Sam cheered, recording her sigh at him.

Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "I've thought about having another one. But, it has a window. So, if it doesn't happen in the next three years, I'm over it. I'm not going to have two children 10 years apart, and the day after Beth's tenth birthday, I am going to have surgery to ensure that."

"Is it even that serious with Cooper? I mean, I know you're exclusive, but do you love him?" Tina asked.

Quinn shrugged her shoulders. "He's a wonderful man and very handsome."

"Ugh. That's how I describe Mike's dad." They laughed. "Hardly a basis for window time frame children."

Quinn added, "He's no Joe, so.. that's hard to compete with."

Sam said, "And yet, you let Joe get away. Now, he's unavailable."

"Dear God, did you see the Valentine's Day that he gave Stacie?" Tina asked, pulling out her phone.

"Stacie has me blocked on everything," Quinn said. "And Joe unfriended me after they started dating, so…"

"She asked him to," Sam said. "He felt awkward about it."

Tina pulled up photos of the floral petals trail to the swing set in his family's yard, photos of them swinging barefoot, holding hands, a four dozen bouquet, them in floral crowns that they made, them in the yard pond - throwing petals into the air so that it would rain on them… "What in the hippie hell?" Quinn wondered.

"I thought it was cute." Tina said. "How often does someone go along with Joe's nature things? AND, she took all the flower remains to either do something artsy with, replant, or repurpose to beauty or health products. They are buttloads meant to be."

Quinn saw a photo of Stacie braiding flowers into Joe's dreads while he just smiled brightly at her, and another of him kissing her on the cheek (now with flowered dreads) and her holding a single flower in her hands and smiling exaggeratedly. "Well, good for them. I only meant that most men are varying degrees of trash. They aren't usually wholesome and kind like Joe."

"Or Sam," Mercedes said.

"Girl…" Quinn started, but just handed Tina her phone back and chuckled…

"Mercedes Jones Evans?" The receptionist called. Tina snapped photos of Sam and Mercedes going to the back.

.

The End of the World…

Sam was looking at Quinn's questions and getting ready to start on them as soon as the doctor came in, so that he could get it out of the way and get around to asking the things that he wanted to know, like how soon they could see what kinda parts it was gonna have and if 7 names was overdoing it because narrowing down the list was hard and he had too many friends to honor through his first born.

The doctor came in and asked them how they were and followed up with, "What type of expectations did you have for today?"

Mercedes chuckled, "That's such a weird question. That wasn't one that I was prepared for. I guess to see if the baby is healthy and if I'm okay to finish a pregnancy."

Sam nodded his head, "I have way more expectations than that, but I think that's a good starting point. Why? Because, I too think that's a weird question."

She sat down, holding the records in her hand and said, very cautiously, "I was asking, because if you were on the fence about things, I may have had some good news. However, I think that I have some not so good news, but not necessarily bad news."

"Just tell us," Mercedes said.

"Mrs. Evans, you are not pregnant today," the doctor said, then Sam hardly heard anything else afterwards. He went into a daze of confusion and disbelief while she explained, "While it is rare, sometimes home pregnancy tests are inaccurate. I took the liberty of checking to see why you may have gotten false results and I noticed that in your questionnaire, you mentioned your medications…"

Sam came back into the conversation, "Wait… So, we happened to be in the like 1% of people who pregnancy tests don't work for?"

"There are a few different reasons that a pregnancy test may produce a false positive, and in this particular instance, it appears to have been caused by some of the medications that Mrs. Evans has been on. Anti-anxiety medication and antipsychotics can sometimes cause such results and as was reported, you've been taking both and sometimes changing and upping dosage, depending on how you're feeling."

"So, it's my fault that my husband is heartbroken right now."

"No! It's nobody's fault, Mrs. Evans. It is just one of those times where science didn't work out the way that was expected for you. But, the reason that I say that this is not necessarily bad news is because other times when a false positive is indicated, it could be a sign of some type of medical problem. You don't have any of those. No urinary tract infection, kidney disease, ovarian cysts or cancer, pituitary problems or an ectopic pregnancy…"

Sam was following now, "Which means that she's safe to have babies and there's nothing wrong with her."

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with her, and since there hasn't been some type of problem that caused this untrue result, you're free to try again as early as your next ovulation cycle."

Sam sighed and squeezed Mercedes' hand. "You're okay! That's great news!" He watched her face and knew that she wasn't okay, even if she was okay. "Are you okay?" He still asked. She started crying and he got up to stoop in front of her and give her a hug. "Hey, hey… It's okay. I promise, I'm not heartbroken. I was excited, but I'll be excited next time, too. It's nobody's fault and it isn't the end of the world."

"Everyone was so happy for me, and now I have to tell them that it was all fake!"

"They'll pull through, Babydoll." He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "And, if you were looking forward to it, like I was; we can actually try for it. And, if you weren't looking forward to it, then this is great and we can wait. As long as you realize that no matter what, we're good."

She shook her head and got up, wanting to storm out, but not being familiar with this office, "Get me out of here, please?" She demanded, ashamed to sit here another moment crying. Sam helped her back to the waiting room where Tina and Quinn were excited, then quickly worried.

"What's up?" Tina asked, putting her camera away.

Sam was about to explain when Mercedes said, "Nothing. Just hormones. The doctor said that everything is fine. Everything is good." Sam's surprised face told Quinn and Tina that wasn't true, but they weren't going to push it. "Sam, can you finish up with the receptionist. I just want to go lie down." She clasped her hands together and asked, "Can someone bring me outside, please?"

Tina and Quinn each took an arm and they walked out together. Giving each other looks, wondering if they should ask her again what was happening. Quinn spoke up with, "If the doctor saw anything wrong at all, any variation of something that might cause concern or upset, Tina and I are right here for you, for whatever you need."

Mercedes bit her lip, let it go and cried. "I'm not pregnant. Turns out that doubling up on the Xanax can make a test think otherwise." She shook her head. "I feel so stupid."

"Stupid? Mercedes, this is wonderful news!" Quinn said. "You've hardly had the time to deal with all of the stressful shit that has happened and this was going to be another huge burden added to your life and your mental health. Now, you'll have time to regulate before having to do something like becoming a mom."

Mercedes shook her head, "That's just it… I hadn't thought about any of the stressful stuff all week. I was just thinking about becoming a mom…" She sobbed.

Tina said, "Well then, that's going to be the next chapter of your life - working on becoming a mom." Quinn shook her head at Tina, who ignored her to say, "We'll get books, we'll watch videos, see doctors, set diets, do activities… whatever it takes, huh?"

Mercedes nodded her head, "Sam said he wanted to try, this time."

"See? It'll be okay!" Tina said and squeezed her.

Quinn joined the hug and reluctantly said, "We'll do whatever we need to do to help with that."

Sam came out of the office and approached when Mercedes was asking Quinn, "Would you mind letting everybody know? I don't want to have to do all of that or explain anything."

"Of course, Mercy." They put her into Sam's arms and Quinn gave him a shoulder squeeze, "I'm sorry."

He smiled, "It's fine." He rubbed Mercedes' arm, "I'm going to get her home."

.

Mercedes felt the gush in between her legs and laughed out loud. Obviously, it was waiting on her to look like a chomp before arriving. She went into the bathroom, did her whole period ritual and went to go find Sam and tell him that she finally started and make some jokes at her own expense. (She knew that he'd cheer her on, regardless)...

"I'm trying to put on a strong face for her, as always. I just… I really thought that I had a thing to be happy about and now, I just have the same bog that we've been in for months. When does it end? I don't know what to do with my feelings, Dad. Right now, I have to be her rock. She's lost a lot, she's been through a lot and now this? And I realize this is an us thing and not a her thing or a me thing, I just would really like a chance at dealing with my own feelings for a change…" He thought he saw movement in his peripheral vision and turned to see Mercedes trying to leave the doorway. "Shit," he hissed.